Are you experiencing pain or tension in your upper or lower back? Before defaulting to ibuprofen and a long night on the couch, try a few yoga poses that can help to alleviate back pain.
Peace Love Yoga in Vineland, offers classes for every level of student, and when you use the Xspero™ app to purchase a certificate to classes at Peace Love Yoga, 20 percent of that purchase will benefit your community when you select a nonprofit listed in the app.
Start with these five yoga poses for back pain that will take you from ouch to om.
Pose #1: Half Lord of the Fishes
Sit upright on the floor with your legs stretched out before you. Now, cross your right foot over the left leg, resting on the floor. Turn at the abdomen toward your right hip as far as you feel comfortable, and hook your left elbow on your right knee. Plant your right hand on the floor near your tailbone, and sit nice and tall. Hold pose and repeat inverse steps for the other side.
Pose #2: Sphinx
Start by laying face-down with legs extended at hip width, and rest your chin on the mat with your arms at your sides. Allow the tops of your feet to press into the mat while you bring your arms up and rest on your elbows in alignment with your shoulders (your forearms remain on the floor). Begin to inhale and press your forearms into the mat, lifting your head and chest up in a delicate arch and pressing your pubic bone into the mat. Lean into the lift, keeping your elbows tucked at your sides while you drop your shoulder blades back. Hold for as long as you feel comfortable, then release, slowing reversing each movement until you return to the floor.
Pose #3: Bridge Pose
Begin on your back with knees bent. Keep your feet flat at hip-width and walk your heels in towards your sitz bones. With arms at your sides, press your shoulders into the mat and lift your chest toward the ceiling so your bottom lifts from the mat, pushing your tailbone toward the backs of your knees, rolling up your spine. While your head lays flat on the mat, bring your chest in toward your chin. Breathe and hold this position for as long as you feel comfortable, then release by reversing each movement until you are flat on the mat.
Pose #4: Cat/Cow
Start on your hands and knees so that your hands are directly under your shoulders and your knees are directly under your hips. If needed, place a blanket under your knees for support. Your hands should be nice and wide with fingers spread. First, you’ll move into cow pose. Take a breath in, and drop your abdomen toward the mat while lifting your chin, chest, and hips upward. You should feel an arch in your back. On the exhale, you’ll move into cat pose. Reverse your motions in cow pose so you’re bringing your abdomen in toward your spine and your back toward the ceiling, energetically bringing your navel towards your spine. Gently lengthen your your head toward the mat so it is nice and heavy and your shoulders round forward. Repeat the cat and cow by flowing slowly between the two poses.
Pose #5: Child’s Pose
To begin, start on your hands and knees. Spread your knees as wide apart as you feel comfortable while lowering your sitz bones to rest on your heels. Sit vertically and lengthen your spine, then, on exhale, bow down so that your abdomen is resting on your thighs and your forehead rests on the mat, a blanket, or a pillow. Extend your arms to the floor in front of you, and reach as far as you can with palms down. Relax down into the pose, breathing in and out slowly and calmly. To release, walk your hands back towards your body until you’re sitting upright on your heels.
Remember to relax, breathe, and let these yoga poses for back pain release your tension and expel any discomfort or stress from you and your body.
Are you ready to stretch more than your dollar for change in your community? Download the app on the App Store or Google Pay for your session with Peace Love Yoga, and visit our blog at Xspero.com for more ways to use the app in your community!
